Sandy Annabi's new lawyer seeks retrial in Yonkers corruption case

May 3, 2012

Former Yonkers Councilwoman Sandy Annabi stands outside the Federal Court in lower Manhattan March 29 after a jury found her guilty on all charges in her federal corruption trial. / Seth Harrison/The Journal News

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The new lawyer for former Yonkers Councilwoman Sandy Annabi says he will ask a federal judge to throw out her corruption conviction and ask for a new trial.

Attorney Edward Sapone said Wednesday that he is preparing two post-conviction motions on the grounds that “no rational juror could have found guilt beyond a reasonable doubt as to any of the counts of which Miss Annabi was convicted.”

Sapone noted that during the trial U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon herself expressed skepticism — without jurors present — over the government’s case against Annabi and former Yonkers Republican Chairman Zehy Jereis, who also was convicted in the five-week trial.

McMahon questioned whether prosecutors would be able to prove a key element of the case – that money Jereis spent on Annabi influenced how she voted on the City Council.

“I have tremendous respect for Judge McMahon and I am 100 percent confident that justice will be done,” Sapone told The Journal News. “In stark contrast to the usual avalanche of evidence presented by the government, here the evidence against Miss Annabi was so sparse that the judge even questioned it.”

Herb Hadad, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, would only say that prosecutors will contest any motions filed by defense attorneys that would challenge the outcome of the trial.

McMahon has set a June 18 deadline for post-trial motions to be filed.

Federal prosecutors argued at the trial that, although it was a circumstantial case, they had ample evidence of a conspiracy.

In the end, the jury convicted Annabi and Jereis, her cousin and political mentor, of all counts March 29.

The two were charged with conspiracy, bribery and extortion for collecting nearly $200,000 in exchange for Annabi’s vote on the City Council. Prosecutors said the money prompted Annabi to change her vote on two key Yonkers projects: a housing development at the old Longfellow School, which was in Annabi’s district, and the massive, $842 million Ridge Hill development along the New York State Thruway.

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A third defendant in the case, Anthony Mangone, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.

Mangone testified that he collected $20,000 from the Longfellow developers — who testified at the trial that they gave Mangone $30,000 — and delivered it to Jereis, who said it would change Annabi’s vote to approve the proposed housing development.

Jereis also received a $5,000-a-month consulting job from the Ridge Hill developers after Annabi changed her longstanding opposition to the project and cast the deciding vote in favor of it.

But Sapone, who said he is still reviewing the trial transcript, will challenge the verdict with a “Rule 29” motion.

A Rule 29 motion asks a federal judge to throw out a judgment or finding for “any offense for which the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction,” according to federal criminal procedure rules.

Sapone said he also plans to file a “Rule 33” motion, which will ask the judge to “vacate any judgment and grant a new trial if the interest of justice so requires,” the rules say.